


Auditions

by Tea_For_One_Please



Series: Seblos - the spring show [1]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22527991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_For_One_Please/pseuds/Tea_For_One_Please
Summary: After Miss Jenn announces her choice for the spring musical, the theatre kids have some doubts as they prepare for the auditions.
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Series: Seblos - the spring show [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620790
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Auditions

“You can’t be serious.” Nini looks at Seb in disbelief, and he nods, clearly amused. “She’s chosen _Cats_?”

“I know,” he says, lifting an eyebrow. “Carlos says she’s obsessed with it since she saw the new film.”

“Miss Jenn, of all people, enjoyed the new _Cats_?” Nini’s expression flickers between incredulous and disappointed, and Seb laughs.

“That’s the thing,” he says. “Apparently she _hated_ it. She’s hell-bent on doing a better job, apparently.”

“Won’t take much,” Gina says, looking up from her book. Seb and Nini jump; they didn’t realise she was listening. “Sorry for eavesdropping. She’s serious, though?”

“Carlos messaged me this morning to say she’s got the scripts,” Seb shrugs through a mouthful of his sandwich. “So I guess she is. You guys are going to audition, right?” Nini and Gina look doubtfully at each other. “Oh, go on,” he coaxes. “Even if it’s a train wreck, it’ll still be fun.”

“I don’t know,” says Nini hesitantly. “What are you auditioning for?”

“I’m not sure yet. Ashlyn and Big Red are doing it, though.”

“Oh, screw it,” Gina says with a shrug. “I’ll do it. I could go for Grizabella.”

“Do it,” says Nini enthusiastically. Gina looks at her in surprise. “What? I don’t exist to compete with you. Besides, it’s more of an ensemble piece anyway.”

“That’s true,” Seb says. “I might go for Mistoffolees. It’s not a main male lead, but it’s a fun role with a fair bit of dancing.” He’s about to go on when he feels his phone buzzing in his pocket. “Oh, hang on,” he frowns, pulling it out. “It’s Carlos,” he says, swiping the green telephone icon. “Hey, you okay?”

“Where are you?” He sounds agitated.

“The cafeteria,” Seb says, a touch confused. “I think it’s customary to have lunch there when we’re not in rehearsal.”

“Honey, I do not need your sass today,” he says, and Seb fights back an urge to laugh. “Can you come to Miss Jenn’s office? We’re having a bit of a crisis here.”

“Uh, sure. Give me five minutes.”

When Seb knocks on the office door and enters, he’s vaguely expecting the room to be flooded. That, or for Miss Jenn to have had the rights for the show revoked. Between the many possible explanations that he conceived in the last five minutes, these two seemed the most likely. Now, though, it looks as though everything is normal.

“Hi,” he says, smiling awkwardly at Carlos at Miss Jenn. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is a disaster,” Miss Jenn says gravely. _Rights revocation it is_. “We have no pianist for auditions.” Seb has to take a moment to process this deeply underwhelming pronouncement.

“I’m sorry?” he says, thinking he must have misheard.

“The pianist we booked cancelled this morning,” Carlos explains.

“Is that it?” Seb asks, bemused. “I thought – ”

“So we have a favour to ask,” Miss Jenn interrupts. “Would you fill in?”

“Play the piano for the auditions?” Carlos and Miss Jenn nod enthusiastically. “Well…”

“We know it’s short notice,” Carlos says, which is worrying. He was under the impression that auditions were about three weeks away. “But if not, we’d have to use backing tracks.” He pronounces the last two words as if there’s a bad taste in his mouth.

“Auditions are next Friday,” Miss Jenn adds, twisting her hands together anxiously.

Seb considers. “There are at least three reasons this is a bad idea,” he says, starting to count on his fingers. “Firstly, I don’t have a score.” Miss Jenn’s eyes light up, and she thrusts a glossy black book in his direction.

“Solved,” she says triumphantly.

“Okay,” Seb says slowly. “Solved. But that also only gives me, what, ten days? And presumably people will be auditioning with the song of the character they want to play, right? That’s like…” He pauses, counting quickly in his head. “At least ten songs, possibly more, that I have to learn to play. And I’ve heard the soundtrack enough to know that this stuff is hard.”

“We know we’re asking a lot,” Carlos says apologetically. “But – ”

“And what am I supposed to do? I can’t play for my own audition,” Seb puts in hastily.

“Pick a part,” Miss Jenn shrugs. Both boys look at her with the same amazed expression.

“Excuse me?”

“Pick a part,” she repeats. “If you do this for me, you can choose your part, and we won’t have open auditions for it.” Seb goes quiet: it’s a tempting offer. But he can’t – not only would it be unfair, he’d have to explain why he wasn’t auditioning with all the others, meaning he’d have to tell them he’s been given a part outright.

“No,” he says simply. “If I’m getting a part, I want to have earned it. Sorry.” He starts to hand back the score, but hesitates. “What if I just had a backing track for my audition?” Carlos looks doubtful, but Miss Jenn beams.

“You’d play for the others?”

“I’ll have a go,” he says honestly, and Miss Jenn breathes a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank God. Thank you so much, Seb, you’re a lifesaver. You can keep the score, as payment, or something.”

“Really?” he says, brightening.

“Sure, I didn’t pay for it anyway.” Seb decides not to ask, since it looks brand new. “Wonderful! Let me know if you need anything,” she says, and Seb and Carlos understand themselves to be dismissed.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Carlos asks once the door’s closed. “I know we were pushy, but you had some good points.”

Seb shrugs. “You were pushy,” he admits. “But it’s okay. I mean, since it’s kind of accepted that I play for the rehearsals, I’d need to learn them anyway.”

“I guess that’s true,” Carlos says. “And I’m sorry we pressured you into this.” Seb smiles, and presses a kiss to his cheek to indicate forgiveness.

“You owe me one,” he says sternly, and Carlos laughs softly.

“The next date’s on me.”

“I should think so too,” Seb says with a grin. “Anyway, I’m going to hijack the school piano and make a start on these. Want to join me?”

“I will,” Carlos says earnestly. “But I haven’t eaten yet. I’ll come in a bit.”

“Cool.” Seb squeezes his hand, before wandering towards the drama studio.

The first thing he does is make a list of the most likely audition songs, which is, unfortunately, most of them. His heart starts to sink as the list grows longer, but he shakes his head at his misgivings and turns to Memory. He figures this will probably be the one he has to play the most – besides Gina, he figures a lot of people will be wanting to play Grizabella.

He scans through the music, and is relieved to find that it doesn’t look too difficult, save a complicated key change near the end. He folds the book back on itself to ensure it stays open (which of course it doesn’t, as it’s new), and start to sight-read. Of course it’s easier, since he has an idea of what it should sound like, but it’s still a little painful as he trudges through the song, trying to juggle playing with turning the pages, as well as stopping the freaking book from closing. He’s just flicked the page over and is in the middle of a bar when the book flops shut and tips off the stand. He stamps his foot in frustration, and of course, it’s this moment that Carlos chooses to return, looking simultaneously sympathetic and amused.

“Having trouble?”

“Not with the music,” he says crossly. “Can you come and hold the book, or something?”

“Sure,” Carlos says, grabbing a chair and pulling it over to the piano.

“Okay,” Seb’s voice is hard with determination. “Let’s take this sucker from the top.” Seb starts to play, nodding to Carlos to indicate that he needs to turn the page, as he knows Carlos can’t read music too well. He’s doing well until he notices that Carlos has started to hum along, which is _really_ distracting. Carlos doesn’t sing all that often, even though Seb knows full well that he has an incredible voice. He forces himself to keep playing, although it takes some effort to not just stop and listen to his boyfriend. He stumbles a little on the key change, still preoccupied with Carlos, but makes it all the way through fairly proficiently, holding the final chord and fading it out gently. He looks over at Carlos, his eyes soft.

“What?” Carlos asks with a curious smile. Seb doesn’t answer, but instead, he leans in, closes his eyes and kisses him, raising a hand to rest against Carlos’ jaw. He feels Carlos breathe in sharply through his nose with contentment as he reciprocates the kiss, pulling away only slightly to get Seb to pursue, pressing in closer. “Wow,” he says with a chuckle when they finally break apart. “What brought that on?”

“Don’t know,” Seb says gently. “I just…” He tails off as the bell rings, signalling the end of the lunch hour. He bites his lip and smiles as he takes the score book off the music stand.

“Well, that was great,” Carlos says, bizarrely matter-of-factly, before blushing and stuttering. “I meant the song,” he says, laughing nervously. “But the kiss was pretty nice too..!”

“Well saved,” Seb teases. “I’ll meet you at the end of the day?”

“Sure,” Carlos nods, apparently still regaining his composure. “Hey, Seb?”

“Hm?”

“You’ll be incredible at the auditions,” he says confidently. “And you have an advantage, because you get to be awesome at everyone else’s, too,” he adds. Seb nods and smiles nervously.

“I hope so.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know it's dramatic - I tried to capture the bizarrely chaotic energy of the show, so I hope that came across?
> 
> Also, for anyone who's skeptical, my drama teacher once wrote an entire fucking show so that her six favourite students could have a leading role in their final year of high school (seriously), so Miss Jenn's offer to Seb isn't THAT unrealistic..!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Please do leave a comment with your thoughts or favourite parts, or else drop me an ask or message on Tumblr (@tea-for-one-please)!


End file.
